The pitch to Bryce couldn't be simpler now. Contract offer will be within 95% of his max offer, gets to play with his friend, gets to play in a market and for a team to maximize endorsements, brings to the offense what we are needing, can be the signing that signals and org change back to OBP/SLG, etc. He can be the man without needing to necessarily be the man with the supporting cast but can also be treated as the guy that fixes things.

There appeared to be a lot of rejoicing on Twitter after the Cubs fired Davis, a strange reaction for an accomplished professional who contributed to a 95-win team. It’s easier to blame Davis than wonder if those young players were rushed through the minors or anointed too early in their careers or stunted in development because of all the matchups-based lineups.

Maybe this team could’ve used another veteran hitter like Daniel Murphy – to talk through at-bats and process game plans faster – for more than just the last six weeks of the season. Kris Bryant’s left shoulder is kind of important to his swing – and the offense clearly wasn’t going to be the same with the 2016 NL MVP limited to only 102 games. It would be nice if the Cubs weren’t constantly looking back at the home plate umpires and making faces after called third strikes.

But this is what the Cubs have become now, a second-place team with a sense of entitlement. Everyone knows Epstein isn’t afraid to make big moves or uncomfortable decisions and this only feels like the beginning of a long winter of changes. Good luck to the next hitting coach, who will do a much better job if he’s working in the cage with Bryce Harper or Manny Machado.

There appeared to be a lot of rejoicing on Twitter after the Cubs fired Davis, a strange reaction for an accomplished professional who contributed to a 95-win team. It’s easier to blame Davis than wonder if those young players were rushed through the minors or anointed too early in their careers or stunted in development because of all the matchups-based lineups.

Maybe this team could’ve used another veteran hitter like Daniel Murphy – to talk through at-bats and process game plans faster – for more than just the last six weeks of the season. Kris Bryant’s left shoulder is kind of important to his swing – and the offense clearly wasn’t going to be the same with the 2016 NL MVP limited to only 102 games. It would be nice if the Cubs weren’t constantly looking back at the home plate umpires and making faces after called third strikes.

But this is what the Cubs have become now, a second-place team with a sense of entitlement. Everyone knows Epstein isn’t afraid to make big moves or uncomfortable decisions and this only feels like the beginning of a long winter of changes. Good luck to the next hitting coach, who will do a much better job if he’s working in the cage with Bryce Harper or Manny Machado.

i swear mooney used to be different. that is truly awful. there is plenty coming out to suggest that the players did not like chili and thought he was detrimental, but sure, take this as an opportunity to attack the fans and the front office.

There appeared to be a lot of rejoicing on Twitter after the Cubs fired Davis, a strange reaction for an accomplished professional who contributed to a 95-win team. It’s easier to blame Davis than wonder if those young players were rushed through the minors or anointed too early in their careers or stunted in development because of all the matchups-based lineups.

Maybe this team could’ve used another veteran hitter like Daniel Murphy – to talk through at-bats and process game plans faster – for more than just the last six weeks of the season. Kris Bryant’s left shoulder is kind of important to his swing – and the offense clearly wasn’t going to be the same with the 2016 NL MVP limited to only 102 games. It would be nice if the Cubs weren’t constantly looking back at the home plate umpires and making faces after called third strikes.

But this is what the Cubs have become now, a second-place team with a sense of entitlement. Everyone knows Epstein isn’t afraid to make big moves or uncomfortable decisions and this only feels like the beginning of a long winter of changes. Good luck to the next hitting coach, who will do a much better job if he’s working in the cage with Bryce Harper or Manny Machado.

The Cubs were as middle of the pack as you can get when it comes to strikeouts, and that's what he calls out? Their team batting average and OBP were great...the glaring thing missing, especially in the second half, was power (ESPECIALLY dongs), and Mooney wishes they were slapping the ball around even more than they were.

Oh, and everyone is greedy and mean because of what happened to poor Chili, but the Cubs need more horsefeathers like Daniel Murphy (who managed only a .297 .329 .471 .800 with the Cubs, which was right in line with the rest of his ho-hum as horsefeathers season). GREAT CALL, DICK.

"I'm sorry, folks outside of SEC country, but a few facts are incontrovertible. They smoke better barbecue than you. Their women are prettier than your women. They play football better than your schools play football." - Andy Staples, SI

treebird wrote:i swear mooney used to be different. that is truly awful. there is plenty coming out to suggest that the players did not like chili and thought he was detrimental, but sure, take this as an opportunity to attack the fans and the front office.

He turned into a hot take doom boner artist towards the end of his CSN tenure. I assumed he was still a good writer just trying to goose his poor traffic numbers, but given that he's stayed that guy at the Athletic I guess he is just fundamentally a hack.

I almost posted earlier this morning that the exit interviews had to really go against Chili. If players had been saying something like "the results aren't there, but what Chili is doing is going to make us better eventually", he'd still be around.